Fox was ever up for the lead role in Footloose, The Flash's other '80s leading man switcheroo was a possibility. Producers did consider Kevin Bacon for the role of Pete “Maverick” Mitchell. A bevy of other actors either turned it down or got passed over, too.
Kevin Bacon Rejected 'Footloose' Fame Because It Wasn't a 'Serious Actor' Role and He Wanted to Work With Scorsese: 'The Last Thing I Wanted to Be Was a Pop Star'
Casting. Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were both slated to play the lead. The casting directors were impressed with Cruise because of the famous underwear dance sequence in Risky Business, but he was unavailable for the part because he was filming All the Right Moves.
Although, Bacon wasn't the only actor considered to play Ren McCormack in Herbert Ross' 1984 film, loosely based on the true story of Elmore City, Oklahoma. Tom Cruise and Rob Lowe were among the prospective actors to appear in Footloose.
Footloose is based on a true story. In 1979 the small town of Elmore City, Oklahoma faced a community crisis. The seniors of Elmore High School wanted to plan a senior prom, but dances were against the law thanks to a not-forgotten ordinance from the late 1800s that forbade dancing within the city limits.
Michael J. Fox on Parkinson's, and maintaining optimism
Why was Sarah Jessica Parker not in the dance scene of Footloose?
Bacon continued: “The studio tested the movie, and they were like, 'This doesn't work at all; everyone wants to get up and dance at the end of this movie. '” The actor revealed that it was almost a year before the cast got back together to reshoot the scene, which might explain the absence of Sarah Jessica Parker.
In a 2013 interview with Howard Stern, Kevin Bacon admitted that he has actually tipped DJs at weddings not to play "Footloose". He stated that people expect him to dance to the song as he did in the movie. In truth, while he did do some of the dancing, there was also a dancing double for him.
Meanwhile, the loutish Chuck Cranston, who considers Ariel his girl, resents Ren because he's attracting Ariel's smiles. This Chuck is a knuckle-dragging bully who patrols in his pickup truck with a posse of sidekicks.
Hough is 23 and plays an 18-year-old as if she were in her early 30s, bringing in notes of gravity, weariness, despairing recklessness and even self-disgust.
A few weeks later, the grieving and fanatical Reverend Shaw Moore (Dennis Quaid) is delivering a Sunday sermon; he feels the towns despair over the tragic deaths of five high school seniors, including his son, Bobby, in an auto accident the previous night after an evening of teenage drinking and dancing.
The High School Musical heartthrob decided not to take the role of Ren McCormack in the upcoming remake of the hit '80s musical – a part that launched the career of then-25-year-old Kevin Bacon – because he wants to challenge his acting chops.
Ren learns that three years before five high school students were killed in a tragic car accident following their departure from a party where there had been teen drinking. Pastor Shaw Moore's (Dennis Quaid) son was the driver of the car.
Did Kevin Bacon do all his own stunts in Footloose?
But because the plot of Footloose revolves around dance, the lack of music in this case is especially glaring. Kevin Bacon did most of his own dancing, but some moves were too difficult for him. A double was brought in for the more serious gymnastics stunts—a fact the studio wanted to hide from the press.
In this rousing musical, Ren (Kenny Wormald) attempts to revitalize a small community that banned dancing and loud music after the death of five teenagers, but his feelings for the local minister's daughter (Julianne Hough) complicate his mission.
How much did Kevin Bacon make for Footloose? It has been reported that Kevin Bacon was paid as much as $1 million for Footloose. This amount may be surprising considering the fact that this was Bacon's first major headlining movie role and that this is a large number for 1984.
Did Kevin Bacon know how do you dance before Footloose?
Bacon recently told the Podcrushed podcast that he hadn't even realized he was auditioning for a dance movie when he first tried out for “Footloose.” “When I did the dance movie, I was not a dancer. I wasn't trained as a dancer,” he said. “If I'm being honest, I didn't even really understand that it was a dance movie.
Personal life. Sedgwick and actor Kevin Bacon were married on September 4, 1988, about 18 months after meeting on the set of PBS's adaptation of Lanford Wilson's Lemon Sky. They have two children, Travis Sedgwick Bacon and actress Sosie Ruth Bacon. The family lives in New York City.
But rather than putting his feelings into words, Bacon decided to put it into dance, alluding to the iconic film that launched his career. The actor, who starred opposite Lori Singer, played Ren, a city teen who moves to a small town where rock music and dancing have been banned.
Lori Singer beat out everyone from Michelle Pfeiffer and Heather Locklear to Meg Ryan, Jodie Foster, Diane Lane and Brooke Shields for the role of Ariel Moore, the town reverend's rebellious and beautiful daughter, in "Footloose."
John Travolta reportedly also turned down the role of Ren McCormack. Christopher Atkins (The Blue Lagoon) says he was already cast in the role but scared off producers and director Herbert Ross when he showed up to the initial meeting high.
